95th Tour de France

Stage 5 - Cholet to Chateauroux - 232.0 km (144.0 mi)

09 July 2008

A recent edition of VeloNews featured a brash young cyclist who has burst forth onto the professional scene in the past two years and emerged as one of the fastest men on two wheels. Some say he has little respect for the sport; others say he is the breath of fresh air that cycling needs after decades of doping-tinged turmoil. But whether one likes or dislikes 22-year-old Mark Cavendish, there is no disputing this fact: he is a winner. After he took four Giro d'Italia stages, the British sprinter was quick to quip, "With my speed and acceleration in the last 100 meters, when I can go from 50 to 70 km/h, for pure acceleration, I am the fastest now."

Today in Chateauroux, with the field coming together finally for a traditional battle royale in a bunch sprint, Cavendish made good on his boast by holding off veterans Oscar Freire (Rabobank) and Erik Zabel (Milram) to take his first career Tour stage. After the podium presentation, Cavendish revealed a more humble side. "I already thought of myself as a big name, but until you win a stage in the Tour, you can't count yourself as a great sprinter. When you have a team like my leadout, it's impossible not to win. I'm glad I could pay them back."

The road which ended with the youngster's victory today - the longest stage of the 2008 Tour de France - began where the race left off yesterday. 178 riders headed east from the town of Cholet, yet one didn't even make it to see the first breakaway take off down the road. Last year's King of the Mountains, Colombian Mauricio Soler of Barloworld, came into the 2008 race as a dark-horse contender for the yellow jersey; he left less than twelve kilometers into today's stage as the persistent pain from his crash in the opening stage back near Plumelec, where he landed and reaggravated the wrist which he broke in the Giro d'Italia back in May, simply became unbearable. The Tour has seen riders go through the race with broken arms, hips, collarbones - but when the pain becomes too much to take anymore, there is nothing left to do but climb into the sag wagon and watch your teammates go up the road as they cut the race numbers off your jersey...

Soler got a passenger view as three riders broke from the remaining 177 and gained a gap to form the day's breakaway group. Lilian Jegou (Francaise des Jeux), Florent Brard (Cofidis) and Nicolas Vogondy (Agritubel)

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